


Desert Rodeo

by yalejosie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, broganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 10:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17958857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yalejosie/pseuds/yalejosie
Summary: Keith takes Shiro to an unusual place





	Desert Rodeo

**Author's Note:**

> Just a thing i wrote because i felt like it! also hbd shiro!!! ill hopefully have something up for his bday tomorrow!!! for now, consider this as part one a shiro bday spectacular!!!! enjoy!!!! (p.s. i tagged this as gen, im a broganes type of gal!)

Shiro woke up to a small tapping noise. He checked the digital clock by his bed: it was 12 pm. The middle of the night, nowhere near time to get up and start getting ready for the day. Shiro was about to go back to sleep when he heard the small tapping noise again, and realized it was coming from the door. He peeked his head out the door and was greeted by the sight of Keith, fully dressed with his biking helmet on. 

 

“Hey, Shiro. You free right now? If you have time, I wanted to show something to you.”

 

“What prompted this, Keith?”

 

“If you come, I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

 

Shiro should’ve given a hard no. He was Keith’s role model, he should be teaching Keith that it’s not okay to sneak out at night. But Shiro couldn’t ignore the pleading look in Keith’s eye, and he knew that Keith would sneak out anyways no matter if he came or not. Better to go with Keith so Shiro could keep him safe. 

 

“Fine. I’ll go get dressed, okay? But you have to promise that we get back by 3am, so you can at least get some sleep.”

 

“Fine. C’mon, Shiro.”

 

Shiro closed the door and got dressed as quietly as he could without waking up Adam. He felt bad for sneaking out without him, but Shiro had a feeling that Keith would’ve asked for Adam if he’d wanted him to come. 

 

If they were sneaking out, Shiro would go all the way. He slipped on his leather jacket, which he only wore when he was leaving the Garrison grounds to go biking. Then he walked into the hall, the door closing behind him with a gentle click. 

  
  


Keith and Shiro silently scurried through the halls, evading the Garrison guards masterfully. As soon as they made it to the hangar where the hoverbikes were parked, Keith made a break for it and hopped onto one of the bikes.

 

“I’ll drive, Shiro, I’m the only one of us who knows where this is.”

 

Against his better judgement, Shiro nodded and sat behind Keith, hands on his little brother’s shoulders. He trusted Keith to be able to pilot the hoverbike, but it was harder to drive at night, and Shiro wasn’t sure how well Keith would be able to handle it. Thankfully, Shiro was proven wrong. Keith piloted the bike masterfully through the night, over the crags and plateaus of the desert landscape. 

 

After they had ridden for awhile, sounds of music and laughter rang out into the desert silence. Soon enough, the source of the sound was revealed as the bike rode over a steep plateau. A large barn sat in the valley below. There was light shining from every window, and many hoverbikes parked were outside. 

 

Keith parked the bike and led Shiro inside. A large dancing hall greeted them, with people in cowboys hats standing near a bar and laughing. Others took to square dancing in the middle of the hall, a live country band playing to the rhythm of the people clapping to the beat of the dancers. 

 

It seemed to be the least Keith like place in the world. Keith was a boy who preferred to be alone out in open spaces. A place for people to gather seemed to be somewhere Keith would tolerate at best, detest at worst. Yet he had dragged Shiro here, and had claimed this place was important. 

 

“Do you like it?” Keith asked tentatively.

 

“It’s great. I didn’t know you liked square dancing.” Shiro replied with a chuckle.

 

“I don’t, Shiro, c’mon. This place…. Pa used to take me here, when I was little and he was still around.”

 

Ah. That explained everything. 

 

Keith seemed to know exactly where he wanted to take them. As Keith led Shiro through the crowd, a few men with cowboy hats waved to him jovially. Keith waved back with a soft smile.

 

“You know those guys?” Shiro asked.

 

“Old friends of my Pa’s. They knew me when I was a little kid. I didn’t see them for awhile after I got sent to the Home. They always sent me small gifts and cards for my birthday each year, and for the anniversary of the fire.” Keith replied.

 

Shiro nodded, and then Keith added, “I know this isn’t somewhere you’d usually hang out, but tonight is my birthday, and I wanted to, I dunno, do something to celebrate it.”

 

“Keith, I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I forgot.” Shiro replied, guilt surging through him like a tsunami. The group of cadets he had been put in charge of this year were unruly, to put it lightly. The amount of paperwork they created was going to kill him. Still, it was no excuse for forgetting Keith’s birthday. 

 

“Is there any way I can make it up to you? “ Shiro asked. 

 

“You don’t need to make up for anything. The fact you’re here is the best gift I could’ve asked for.” Keith replied tenderly. 

 

“But… if you do want to make up for something, could you do me a favor?” Keith added.

 

“Whatever you want Keith.” Shiro reassured nervously. 

 

“Could you ride the bull? I’ve always wanted to see you do that.”

 

“Sure, where is it?”

 

Keith pointed to the other side of the bar, and all of a sudden, Shiro noticed the mechanical bull. It was possibly the biggest animal he had ever seen, artificial or otherwise. There was a large gym mat to give riders a cushion to fall onto, but it didn’t seem to be used often. The people on the bull held on as if they had been riding it since they were kids (which was probably true), waving their hats in the air to the whoops and cheers of spectators and friends. 

 

A hurricane of butterflies started rocketing around Shiro’s stomach, which seemed to have migrated to his throat. He wanted to impress Keith, but Shiro knew he was utterly inexperienced when it came to bull riding. He racked his brain to come up with a strategy for staying on that bull. 

 

Shiro observed the rider on the bull. She seemed to be doing exceptionally well, so he studied her movements. They seemed to be wavy, moving fluidly to the pulse of the mechanical bull’s futile attempts to buck her off. Shiro also noticed she had one hand grasping a small handle on the side of the bull. 

 

Shiro took all of that into account, and went over his plan as he stepped into the ring to ride the mighty mechanical beast. All eyes were on him, eyeing him the same way Iverson would leer at an overzealous cadet. 

 

Shiro clambered onto the bull, and gave the thumbs up for the bull to begin. Shiro felt the whole world shift as the bull began to buck and sway. It was slow at first, but the bull got faster and faster the longer he held on. Shiro swayed with the bull, his movements flowing along the beat of the bull's bucks. Soon, the bull reached it's fastest speed, which Shiro quickly acclimated to. 

 

Eventually, Shiro felt comfortable enough to take one hand off of the handles and wave it high in the air. It seemed he was doing well, as the crowd around him began to cheer. Shiro saw Keith on the sidelines cheering for him, along with some of the cowboys Keith had waved to earlier. When Shiro fell off the bull, it was from sheer exhaustion. 

 

People came up to him and clapped him on the back, and offered to get him something at the bar. Shiro kindly refused, and said he need to get him and Keith home. That wasn't pure excuse: it was almost 3 am, and wakeup call would be in four hours. Keith said his goodbyes, and they both walked out of the barn. 

 

As Shiro drove them back to the Garrison, he could tell Keith had nearly fallen asleep behind him. When he parked the car, Shiro picked up Keith and brought him back to his dorm. Keith was fast asleep as Shiro deposited him onto his dorm room bed. 

 

Shiro made sure Keith was tucked in, and then headed back to his room. When Shiro made it, he was so tired he only had enough energy to kick off his shoes. He collapsed into bed, and sank into a deep sleep. 


End file.
